The Soviet/Russian TOZ 82 -- spacecraft survival firearm

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nemo2econ

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The TOZ 82 was a combination pistol/flareshooter/shotgun carried to space on (first) Soviet and (later) Russian Soyuz spacecraft. They were carried for years on every manned Soyuz, to the MIR space station, and to the International Space Station; until, one day, they weren't.

Great article on it out today. Here's a link: How I Stopped Cosmonauts From Carrying Guns was published today in IEEE Spectrum. Written by veteran space journalist James Oberg he tells the story of this novel sidearm.

"the standard Soyuz survival pack included a deluxe all-in-one pistol called the TOZ 82 with three barrels and a folding stock that doubled as a shovel and contained a swing-out machete. There were a few dozen rounds of three types of ammunition—rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares—in a belt attached to the gun."
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Is this something that's been discussed here on Firing Line Forums previously? I couldn't find any thread discussing it.

Moderators: I hope this is in the correct forum, and that I've handled the link and very brief quotation from the article correctly. If not, feel free to move it (since it is identified as a sidearm, but apparently had some rifle-ish and shotgun capabilities as well, it was unclear to me where it would fit in).

Edited to make the title a bit more clear
 
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Leave it to a ground-based engineer to whine about the presence of what was clearly a survival firearm, since he would never be in a situation where it might save his life.

By his definition a knife would be a "space-based weapon," and those are carried on practically every manned flight.

Besides, if a cosmonaut wanted to go on a killing spree in space, he wouldn't need a firearm. Flipping a few of the wrong switches would work just as well.
 
Let's keep it about the technical aspects of the firearm, & survival tool usability

Hey Fishbed, I tend to agree with you on the idea that the author is more worried about a gun in a spacecraft then he need be; ordinary access controls, widely practiced in terrestrial environments, are just fine in keeping the thing locked up on the Soyuz while it is in orbit, while keeping the weapon useful exclusively for the "Soyuz emergency landing" scenario as intended.

Having said that, I think that discussion probably fits in some other thread here on FLF.

Let's let this thread be about the technical aspects of this Soviet/Russian combination multi-barrel firearm. Did other know of this prior to this article? Were others aware that the TOZ 82 was used with spaceflight missions like this?

Or how might this sort of "survival pack" weapon combo compare to some of the ones used by US military forces over the years?
 
Could you imagine firing a gun in space! with nothing to stop the bullet, it would travel forever, possibly to the outer reaches of our solar system!
 
That was something I asked my Ninth Grade Physical Science teacher.

I was reading a paperback at the time about the Soviet hijacking the Space Shuttle, and the astronaut/cosmonaut used a pen gun type thing to kill the mission commander.

Later, a Space Fighter was sent to shoot the shuttle down with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.

But, keeping in with the original thread, it seems a bit more versatile than the AR-7 issued to US air crew members.
 
Three thoughts on this:

1) As the OP, I had asked: "Is this something that's been discussed here on Firing Line Forums previously?" Apparently, the Soviet TOZ82 (now, Russian TOZ 82) has not been previously discussed here on Firing Line Forums. So the discussion is worthwhile.

2) What are the characteristics of the "three barrels" that are available for this firearm? The referenced IEEE article in the OP refers to the weapon as a sidearm, and the accompanying photograph shows it looking like a handgun with some sort of extensible stock.

But what are the three barrels? Is one sufficiently long such that this is really a rifle, and not a sidearm? (and perhaps that barrel is not shown in the photos?) Or are the barrels all parallel and hard-forged into a single (heavy-barreled) sidearm of a pretty weird type?

3) Also, should this discussion perhaps be moved to another forum, more general and less specific to semi-autos? I think semi-automatic handguns may be the wrong forum, but I don't know how to fix that miss when I created the thread. Sorry for the mis-categorization of it.
 
Neat little gun. I have an M6 in the proper .22 Hornet chambering. (Though from a practical standpoint, I wish I had bought it in .22LR)

It would be pretty reassuring to have along in a true survival situation.
 
1) As the OP, I had asked: "Is this something that's been discussed here on Firing Line Forums previously?" Apparently, the Soviet TOZ82 (now, Russian TOZ 82) has not been previously discussed here on Firing Line Forums. So the discussion is worthwhile.
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Yet, when I tried to discuss it, you said I was off topic. There is more to a discussion of such a unique firearm than just technical aspects. It is very important to discuss the particular function of this firearm. It was a pure survival firearm, and not designed to be a weapon. In fact, it replaced the Makarov PM, which traveled into space on some earlier flights, because the Makarov was not as well-suited to serve as a survival firearm.

2) What are the characteristics of the "three barrels" that are available for this firearm? The referenced IEEE article in the OP refers to the weapon as a sidearm, and the accompanying photograph shows it looking like a handgun with some sort of extensible stock.
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See below for technical aspects of the barrels:

http://world.guns.ru/shotgun/rus/tp-2-e.html


.
 
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TOZ-82 / TP-82

Yes, thanks Fishbed for the excellent link that describes the full characteristics of this Russian survival weapon, when and why it was developed, and when it went into service on Soviet space missions (1982), stayed in service on post-USSR devolution Russian space missions, and a rationale for why it went out of service around 2007.

Very helpful info! :)
 
If you read the articles it appears that it is now an optional item. Conditions have changed since 1965 when such a survival weapon was needed on space craft. I suspect that it still is issued as a survival weapon on other Soviet aircraft inspite of a 2007 expiration date on some of the ammunition.
 
http://world.guns.ru/shotgun/rus/tp-2-e.html

The link says that it was chambered in 32-gauge (:confused: ???) and 5.45x39. I'd think that a side-folder Krinkov in 5.45 might be a little more practical and preferable than a single shot that requires opening the action for a reload after the three barrels are discharged.
 
"...it would travel forever..." And the shooter would in the opposite direction. Ya'll will note it was for surviving in Siberia, not on Alpha Cygnus IX.
 
T. O'Heir: said:
"...it would travel forever..." And the shooter would in the opposite direction. Ya'll will note it was for surviving in Siberia, not on Alpha Cygnus IX.
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For those of us that haven't been to Alpha Cygnus 9, would a three barrel single shot be the optimal design?
 
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Only with the 40 megawatt plasma generator insert which would occupy the left shotgun barrel, and the and the nuclear powered vibro-buzz knife replacement stock.

In all seriousness, an interesting design - wonder if a US maker could come up with something like this for car carry, with the longer barrels being required, of course. Or, alternatively, might be a nifty idea for NFA shotgun manufacturers to look at using the Chiappa Triple Threat three barrel shotgun as a base...just a random thought...
 
Very cool gun thanks to the OP for bringing it to the forum.

It reminds me a little bit of the broom handle with that stock.
 
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